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Posted by: Neely Tucker
This civic poster from the days of World War II is always a good reminder that the right to vote is something that millions of Americans have fought to earn, protect and defend. It cost something. So, as we always do on Election Day, we encourage you to exercise that right. Vote your conscience. We …
Posted in: Civil Rights
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022. This post describes the remarkable history of the building's planning, construction and final grand opening in 1897.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, News, Thomas Jefferson Building
Posted by: Brett Zongker
The Kislak Family Foundation is donating $10 million to create a new exhibition at the Library that will share a fuller history of the early Americas, featuring the Jay I. Kislak Collection of artifacts, paintings, maps, rare books and documents, the Library announced today. The new Kislak Gallery will be part of a reimagined visitor …
Posted in: Jay I. Kislak Collection, Native Americans, News, Thomas Jefferson Building
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Ida B. Wells was 30 years old in 1892, living in Memphis and working as a newspaper editor, when a mob lynched one of her friends. Distraught, the pioneering journalist set out to document the stories of lynching victims and disprove a commonly asserted justification — that the murders were a response to rape. Wells’ …
Posted in: African American History, Congress, Education, Geography and Maps Division, Junior Fellows Program, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Maps, Technology
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Leslie Jordan died of an apparent medical emergency this morning while driving in Los Angeles. His beloved BMW crashed into the wall of a building. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was hurt. He was 67. Adorable, generous and hilarious to the very end, one of his last public appearances was …
Posted in: COVID-19, National Book Festival, News, Performing Arts, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Every institution has its institutions, and one of the Library’s is John Hessler, who will retire from the Geography and Map Division at the end of this month. He holds many titles, official and unofficial. One of the official ones is curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology & History of the …
Posted in: Curators, Geography and Maps Division, Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library Work and Employees, Native Americans, News, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
A film researcher at the Library of Congress has stumbled across the first motion picture to be copyrighted.
Posted in: Film, Library Work and Employees, National Film Registry, News, Performing Arts, Preservation, Rare Book and Special Collections, Researcher Stories, Technology
Posted by: Neely Tucker
This is a guest post by Hannah Freece, a writer-editor in the Library’s Publishing Office. “I broke par in Bingston.” With this enigmatic statement, private eye Toussaint Moore opens “Room to Swing,” Ed Lacy’s Edgar Award–winning 1957 novel, the newest addition to the Library of Congress Crime Classics series. It’s the hard-hitting story of a …
Posted in: African American History, Jewish American History, Library of Congress Crime Classics, Library Work and Employees, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Julie Centofanti, a biology student at Youngstown State University, started a club at her university in 2020 to transcribe historical documents included in the Library’s By the People project. A longer version of this interview appears on the Signal blog. How did you find out about By the People? I’m a member of the Youngstown …
Posted in: By the People, Library Work and Employees, Manuscripts, Researcher Stories